


Snow in New York

by Joyfulnerd



Series: The Bells [2]
Category: Veronica Mars (Movie 2014), Veronica Mars (TV), Veronica Mars - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-10
Updated: 2014-10-10
Packaged: 2018-02-20 14:09:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2431643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joyfulnerd/pseuds/Joyfulnerd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Another one-shot inspired (very loosely) by some of the lyrics of "I Hear The Bells" by Mike Doughty.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snow in New York

**Author's Note:**

> So I decided to try my hand at a series of one-shots inspired by some of the lyrics from "I Hear The Bells" by Mike Doughty. This one is pretty loosely inspired. This is just what came to my mind while listening to the song.

_Snow in New York_   
_Some blue December, I'm_   
_Gone to the moon_   
_Without you, girl, and I'm_   
_Calling to you_   
_Throughout the world_

DayQuil? NyQuil? Tylenol Cold? Robitussin? Why the hell are there so many different kinds of cold medicine? Logan sighs and runs his hand through his hair as he sniffles...again. This is not how his leave is supposed to be going. He's supposed to be at home packing for his Christmas trip to Hawaii with Dick. Not wandering around Target at 8 o'clock at night shopping for drugs to try and fight off this cold. He picks up another medication that promises immediate relief of stuffed nasal passages and chest congestion and tries to focus on the words on the box. God, he feels awful. As he reads about the apparent miracle cure in his hands, he hears a voice in the next aisle.

"So, does the whole white Christmas thing really live up to all the hype?" Logan half listens to the conversation as the woman's voice gets closer. She sounds familiar, but he can't place it immediately. She's laughing now as she speaks again. "Unfortunately, I think the cold goes along with the snow. Can't have one without the other, Bond." 

Logan's head whips around so fast he gets lightheaded (damn cold). It's Mac. She's just coming around the corner into the aisle he's occupying. He hasn't seen her since Hearst and she looks much the same except that her hair is shorter and cut in a somewhat abstract style. He wonders what she's doing in Neptune. Last he'd heard she was working for some company in Silicon Valley. All at once, it sinks in what she just said. Bond. Does that mean...? Oh god, is she talking to Veronica? Just the idea of Veronica being on the other end of that line takes his breath away a bit. He should just go, take whatever medicine he's got in his hands, and run. Mac hasn't seen him yet. He could make a clean getaway. But then Mac starts speaking and he glances at her out of the corner of his eye. She's examining the display of aspirins and ibuprofens as she speaks again, "I wish you were coming home. I need a break from all this family time. I love them but, seriously, there's a limit to my tolerance for discussions about the latest exploits of Honey Boo-Boo and the Duggars." 

Logan strains to hear the voice on the other end of Mac's line. Mac is laughing again and then says, "Yeah, I should go too. I'm going to stock up on Advil and head back into the fray." There's a pause and then, "Yes, I'll keep thinking about it. Build a snowman for me. Merry Christmas, Veronica." Mac smiles and Logan can just about hear Veronica wishing Mac a happy Christmas back. He realizes that he's inched closer to Mac and is now standing just a few feet from her. Shit. He needs to go. He's just about to turn when yet another coughing spasm grips him and he starts hacking. 

"Logan?" He looks up, half his face buried in the crook of his elbow, trying to keep from contaminating anyone else with this bug from hell. 

"Hey, Mac," he barely manages to croak out before the coughing starts again. 

Mac is watching him awkwardly as he finally stops coughing. She smirks a little but there's sympathy in her eyes when she asks, "You okay?" 

He nods. "Long time, no see, Mac. How've you been?" 

"Pretty good. You?" 

Wow. Scintillating exchange they're having. He decides to blame the cold on his lack of conversational skills. "I'm good, aside from the obvious." He gestures toward the cold medicines and offers her a weak smile. He's trying his damnedest not to ask about Veronica, so instead he asks Mac, "What are you up to these days?" 

"I'm working for Oracle America. Just home for the holidays. How about you?" 

"I actually joined the Navy. I'm an aviator." Logan is surprised to find that he's, not embarrassed exactly, but definitely a little shy about telling Mac what he does now. It's his job and he's proud of what he does, but he knows it takes people, especially people from his past, by surprise to find out what he does. 

Mac just stares at him for a second. "Like you fly jets...for the Navy? Like Top Gun?" 

Logan sighs. Always with the Top Gun. "Yes, I fly jets, but it bears little resemblance to Top Gun." 

"Well, that's disappointing," Mac grins at him and then adds, "But that's amazing, Logan, what you're doing." 

Logan glances down and, damn, is he blushing? Can he blame that on his cold? He should be making a joke, bragging, something more Logan-y, but there's something about having this conversation with Mac that's making him feel almost bashful, like she's a proxy for the woman who was the connecting link between them. They're both quiet for a moment and Logan tries to figure out how to end this and leave before he embarrasses himself and asks about an ex-girlfriend he hasn't seen or heard from in nearly seven years. 

Suddenly Mac says, "She's in New York, Columbia law school." Logan lifts his head just in time to see Mac wince as if she hadn't meant to say that. She grimaces a bit and then says, "I just figured you probably heard me just now talking to Veronica and maybe you'd want to know, but maybe you didn't and...sorry. This is so weird." 

Logan laughs a little. "Weird, yeah, it is. I wanted to ask but I didn't want to ask...but I'm glad to know." _Don't do it_ , he tells himself, _don't ask_. "Is she...happy, Mac?" Damn it. 

Mac smiles at him as if she can see that he didn't mean ask such a blatantly emotional question. "Yeah, she's happy and she's doing really well. Do you...do you want me to tell her I saw you or..." 

Huh. He's wondered over the years how Veronica would react to finding out he joined the Navy, although he'd always thought that'd he'd be the one to tell her. How that would come about he had no idea, but he'd often imagine it would start with them running into each other somewhere, he'd be in uniform for one reason or another, he'd tell her what he did now and she'd see how much he'd changed, grown, and she'd want him again. Pathetic? Maybe, but there it is. 

"Logan, you in there?" Logan realizes he's been standing in front of Mac completely lost in thought. 

"Sorry. Uh, yeah, if you can tell Veronica if you want." Her name feels rusty on his tongue and just saying it stirs up...something...deep within him. Like just talking about Veronica is the start of building a tenuous sort-of connection to the one woman he knew he'd never really be over. Suddenly, Logan feels exceptionally tired. It's exhausting enough trying to make conversation through the haze of his cold and now he's trying to avoid the urge to grill Mac about all the details of Veronica's life (Why law school? Is she dating? Does she ever talk about him?). It's definitely time to get out of here. 

"I should go. I don't want to infect you with whatever I have, but...it was good to see you, Mac."

"You too, Logan. Feel better soon." They exchange Merry Christmases and Logan leaves Mac to figure out which over-the-counter painkiller will help her survive the holidays.

VMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVM

Mac watches Logan walk away and shakes her head. That was one of the oddest situations she'd found herself in in a long time. It was strange enough seeing Logan after all these years. Seeing him someplace like Target made it stranger somehow. Finding out he wasn't bumming around surfing and drinking his life away, but instead he was a freakin' Naval aviator? That was a whole new unfounded level of strangeness. Mac shakes her head, grabs a bottle of ibuprofen, and starts heading to the checkout. Should she tell Veronica? For years now, there had seemed to be a moratorium on speaking about Logan. Veronica had never explicitly stated that she didn't want to talk about him, but it seemed to be understood that he was persona non grata conversation wise. If she waits for Veronica to mention Logan, Mac will never get the chance to tell her about this unbelievable turn of events. Mac checks out and heads over to the Starbucks near the entrance, still contemplating what to do. By the time she's gotten her chai soy latte, she's dialing Veronica's number, having decided that Logan Echolls, naval aviator, is something that just won't wait.

VMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVM

Veronica is shivering despite the t-shirt, sweatshirt, jeans, peacoat, scarf, and mittens she's wearing. Like she'd told Mac, the snow is beautiful but it's frigid tonight. She's trusting that her California blood will eventually get used to these chilly temps, but right now she's just cold. Still, Mac had asked for a snowman and so here she is standing outside making a miniature 6-inch snowman on the stoop of her apartment building. She smiles at the little guy as she adds a second tiny twig arm and pulls out her phone. She's just about to take a picture of little Frosty when her phone rings. She smiles at Mac's contact photo and answers, "I can't build you a snowman if you interrupt me, Q. Or did you decide about New Year's already? You really should come and visit. We'll do the whole Times Square thing!" 

Mac laughs, "Still thinking about that. Sorry. I'm just calling because I had the strangest encounter just now." 

"Strange how? Like the third kind, strange? Have aliens invaded the Neptune Super Target?" 

"No, almost stranger than that if you'd believe it." Mac falls quiet for a second. 

"Well? Don't leave hanging, Mac!" 

"I just ran into Logan." 

Veronica's hands still just as she's adding a pebble button to her little snowman. "You what? Logan? Logan Echolls? My... How? At Target?" Veronica is babbling and she can't seem to make this idea come into focus. Mac quickly explains how she saw Logan buying cold medicine (Veronica fleetingly wonders why it makes her a little sad that he's sick and she's not there) and how they'd chatted for a couple minutes. 

"So, you saw Logan." Veronica still can't wrap her head around it. Her stomach is roiling and for some reason the idea of Mac seeing Logan is making her feel...is that jealousy? 

Mac's talking again, "I asked him what he's doing these days. He's in the Navy, Veronica." Wait. What? Veronica sits down on the stoop, narrowly avoiding Frosty. None of this is making sense. 

"Like the _Navy_ Navy? How in the world..." 

Mac is laughing, "I have no clue. It was like a two minute conversation. But yeah, he said he's in the Navy and he's an aviator, like he flies jets for the Navy, Veronica." 

Veronica feels like the world is spinning way too fast around her. Logically, she knew Logan was out there somewhere in the world doing something, but she'd been pretty purposeful in not trying to think about that too much, not think about him too much. It was just too painful. Sitting here in New York freezing her ass off (literally, this stoop is freezing) and finding out Logan is serving in the military, that he's found such an impressive purpose for his life, and that Mac heard all this from Logan's own lips, it's overwhelming. It's like the ghost of Logan that's existed in the back of her mind is suddenly less of a ghost and more of a flesh and blood man (a man in a flight suit no less). Veronica is feeling a little breathless. 

"Veronica? Veronica, are you okay?" Mac is calling loudly to her. 

"Sorry, sorry, Mac. I'm here. I just...I don't know what to say. It's a lot to take in." 

"Yeah, I know. I just had to call. Could you have imagined this where Logan would end up? I know it's been years, but it's pretty unbelievable to imagine him traveling the world serving in the Navy, huh?" 

Years. Traveling the world. Unbidden, words that Veronica had long buried in her mind rise to the surface. _Spanning years and continents...epic._ Veronica gasps and she can't breathe for a moment. 

"Veronica, are you okay? Should I not have told you?" Mac sounds worried.

"No, it's fine, Mac. I just...I have to go. Think about New Year's, okay?" Veronica hangs up before Mac can say anything else. Epic, years, continents, epic...the words are floating around Veronica's head. That speech. That damned speech. Logan's voice, drunk, sad, but so full of conviction. He'd really believed that, once upon a time. Hell, she'd really believed it once upon a time. Veronica can't believe how this is shaking her. 

She stands up suddenly and practically runs up the three flights of stairs to her apartment. She gets inside and throws herself facedown onto the couch, burying her face in the cushions. So Logan was in the Navy. No need for her to feel like her whole world is upside down and inside out. No need for her to get on the next plane to California and find out for herself what had changed in Logan. She groans. She'd done so well for so long. She'd managed to relegate Logan to a distant memory. Now he's back in her mind and she has no clue what to do about it. She lays there for a long time trying to clear her head, trying not to think about Logan Echolls, and failing miserably. Years, continents, epic. 

Finally, Veronica sits up and takes a deep breath. Okay, okay. She's fine. Another deep breath. This doesn't change anything. It's good to know that Logan has made something of himself. She's happy for him. Really. Veronica sighs. Yes, she's happy for him, but if she's honest with herself she's a little disappointed all this change and growth happened while they were apart. Logan has apparently started living up to the potential that was in him and she just wishes she had been there to see it. She sits up. But maybe that's why it happened. Maybe they both needed the space to figure out who they are without their intense and overwhelming emotions clouding everything. Veronica stands up and walks over to her window and stares out at New York. It's a full moon and some latent romantic part of her wonders if Logan is looking up at the moon too. Oh, boy. She closes her eyes. Maybe she should try and find Logan, give him a call. 

"No, not yet." 

Veronica's eyes pop open and she turns to see that her roommate, Jessie, has come in and is on the phone. Jessie grins at her and gives a little wave as she heads into her bedroom, still speaking on the phone. Veronica waves back but she's distracted. She knows Jessie wasn't talking to her and Veronica Mars certainly isn't someone given to whimsical thoughts about coincidence, but she wonders if Jessie's words were indirectly meant for her. Not yet. Maybe she and Logan will reconnect but not yet. And maybe this is her doing her thing and choosing to run away from an emotionally intense situation (because, really, is there any other kind when she and Logan are involved?), but Veronica feels strangely at peace thinking in terms of not yet. She smiles and thinks that maybe she'll wait and see. Because waiting a while is no big deal when you're epic, right?


End file.
